Page 36 of 20% Blood 80%
“Jesus Christ.” I jumped and gathered D’alton’s bow from the wall, though I hadn’t a clue how to use it, and I didn’t even have an arrow.
D’alton raced across the room, face euphoric. “D’iver!”
“Get behind me, brother. Is this”—his eyes dropped to my softening dick—“male trying to hurt you?”
No way in hell would I let anyone put themselves between D’alton and me, not even his brother.
A sunny voice came over the speakers. “Sterling Peoples, as I was trying to tell you, the proximity alarm—”
“Shut up, C,” I shouted.
I marched toward D’iver, trying to get my breathing under control. One voice in my head screamed,No one’s going to take D’alton away from me. The other said,That’s his brother. Be reasonable.
Practically growling, I stopped a few short feet away from the bristling Boola. “Can you please wait in the hallway for a minute?” That was fucking angelic compared to my internal voice, which wanted me to pummel him to the ground for invading our safe haven.
Copper eyes devoid of the softness I’d come to associate with them, glared at me. Much broader across the chest and shoulders than D’alton, D’iver clenched his hands into fists at his sides. “Not in a million annums, Earther.”
“D’iver, give me a moment. I promise I’m fine.”D’alton ran back to the bed, fumbled a sheet around his waist, threw a pair of shorts at me, then stumbled toward his brother and hugged him. “We just need to get dressed.”
After fingering a knife sheathed at his waist, D’iver spun around and exited our room.
“Silver, can you believe it? My brother’s here.” D’alton rushed into my arms. “I found the communicator…it worked.” He glanced at the busted-up antennae blinking in the corner of the room.
He brushed his fangs over my neck, like a human might give a kiss, before running to the washroom and wiping himself down. In a flurry of limbs, he whirled around the room, throwing on clothes. “I need to see how my little D’izzy is doing…and my mata…and how my gardens are…and if my nephew is still getting bullied by that nasty female youngling…” He trailed off as I stood frozen in the middle of the room.
Then he pushed me toward the shower. “Why don’t you meet us at the biodomes after you wash? D’iver and I can catch up. This room smells perfect, but it’s a little…” He sniffed, but his eyes twinkled in the low light. “…ripe for a get-to-know-you.”
Then he rushed off, and it felt like he’d ripped my heart out and taken it with him.
I stood under the spray until it grew cold. His brother was here. That meant a functioning shuttle. D’iver would be taking D’alton away. The man I loved would be going home.
“Sterling Peoples, D’alton of Clan Lasting has requested that you, and I quote, ‘get your cute little behind down to the biodomes now and stop wallowing. Everythingwill be fine.’”
I powered down the shower and stepped out of the freezing spray. Itwouldbe fine. I could do this. I could get a job on a new planet. Start over somewhere. Last I looked, Intermed had dozens of positions for engineers to work at remote outposts. Though the thought of working at another research station made my skin crawl. Shit, I should find another company too. Intermed hadn’t even come to rescue me.
On autopilot, I wrung the water from my hair and pulled on my rumpled coveralls. Each torturous step toward the hovertube broke my heart a little more. When it came to a stop on level thirty-one, I had to coax myself to exit. I didn’t want D’alton—and especially not his brother—to see me falling apart.
14
IfIhadn’tsensedSilver falling apart twenty-two levels above me, this might have been the happiest day of my life. A love declaration that rang true to my soul and the return to my family, to my home, a short shuttle ride away.
“So, he’s an Earther, right?” My brother asked as d’ew melon dripped down his chin. “Seems like you might not be as bad off here as I thought.” He waggled his dark eyebrows at me. “Does he taste good?”
“That’s what you want to talk about? How good he tastes?” I loved my brother, but now wasn’t the time to indulge his idle curiosities. Silver wasn’t up for examination. I passed him another melon. “I’m great! But I miss everyone so much. Even your nosy ass.”
“Hey, hey…” He held his hands up. “I couldn’t help but notice my naked brother under the covetous protection of a pale-skinned Earther covered in bite marks.”
The tour of the biodomes had ended long ago with no sign of Silver. Where was that male? If I knew anything about him, he was coming up with a million reasons why my brother’s arrival heralded the end of the world.
I glanced at my wristport for what must have been the hundredth time, but none of my messages had been replied to, so I asked C to send him a message through the intercom.
“A bit of a wild entity, is he?” D’iver stacked the crates of exotic fruits and vegetables we’d be bringing back.
I glared at my brother. “He’s perfect.”
“Only you, D’alton. This would only happen to you.” He snorted. “You crash-land on a planet, get rescued by the one male living here, and he just happens to be your blood mate.”
A switch clicked in my head. I’d always been clueless about relationships, but at the reminder, flashes of early lessons on Boola ancestry rushed back to me. Irresistible scent? Check. Extreme attraction? Check. Desire to please? Check. And the clincher: an insatiable appetite for his blood.
